Political Quotes

“It is a pleasure for me to appear, Mr. Speaker, to express my support for this concurrent resolution. I want to thank my colleague, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur), for bringing the issue to the floor. I want to thank our ranking member, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), who is handling the bill, and certainly the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for handling the bill on the majority side. One hundred years ago, the 101st Congress printed ``Women in Congress, 1917-1990,'' a collection of photographs and biographies of the 129 women who had served in the House and Senate. Since 1989, 79 women have been elected to Congress. Printing a new edition of ``Women in Congress'' makes sense. It would update this historical information for teachers, students, and others about the 208 women who have served to date, including the 61 now in the House and 13 in the Senate. Mention has been made by my colleague about the first woman who was elected to Congress, who, incidentally, was a Republican, Jeannette Rankin from the State of Montana, who was elected before women had the right to vote. They could vote in her State, but they could not vote nationally until 1920. Incidentally, she voted against two world wars, so she was an historic figure. There was Edith Nourse Rogers, who holds the record for length of service by a woman in Congress, 35 years in the House. But Mr. Speaker, we need to also do some correcting in the new edition.”